This past week was the Beginning Sur-thrival class! Ms. Stacy taught the class with the help of Ms. Tesla and Mr. Garrett and we learned a wide range of thriving in the woods and taking care of each other as a pack. 
Monday was our first day of learning about the outdoors! First we went over how to keep ourselves safe by drinking lots of water and watching out for things that could harm us such as poison ivy. We learned about how to be a pack and work together to keep everyone safe and have fun as a group. We learned about the owl and wolf calls and played a game of Helium Stick (lifting a walking stink with only your pointer fingers). We tried to take a hike to our Outdoor Classroom and to the Moon, but unfortunately we heard thunder so we had to go back inside. As we waited for the rain to calm down a little we learned two knots. We were able to take a short hike where we practiced our calls before our time was over.
Tuesday was knot and tarp day! We celebrated West Virginia’s birthday by practicing our knots from yesterday and learned about the basics for making camp. We hiked up to Maple Clearing, practiced our knots and learned a new one, so we could make an A-frame tarp with Mr. Garrett! We also went over mental mapping and remembered what paths to take to get back to the classroom. 
Wednesday was fire day! We celebrated the Summer Solstice by learning about fire safety and about how to make a proper fire. We first learned how to keep ourselves and our friends safe, then learned what we need to begin making our fires. We split into groups of three and gathered our own kindling, smaller wood, and medium wood. We explored how to make our own fires and how to delegate tasks between each person in the group. At the end of our time we explored while hiking down to the classroom and got ready for our last day!
Thursday was both a happy and sad day as it was our last day and our graduation. We hiked to Maple Clearing and went over fire safety with Ms. Tesla before we built fires, built A-frame tarps and went over our knots with Mr. Garrett, and talked with Ms. Tesla and Ms. Stacy about how to cook over a fire and helped stir the oatmeal! Ms. Stacy brought different berries for us to add to our oatmeal and we explored for a while before returning to the classroom to do our closing ceremony. Ms. Stacy said one positive thing about each student and how they have grown during the class, and we went around saying good things about each other! 
Thank you for allowing us to share one of our favorite places with your children and we hope that they continue to explore and love the outdoors! 
Comments are closed.